Cook well. Eat well. Drink well.

Mushroom Burger @ The Cupping Room, Canberra CBD, ACT

Last Sunday, Rachi (blogger of Le-Bon Vivant) and I caught up for lunch at The Cupping Room. It was my first time trying The Cupping Room and I had heard great things about their coffee. On Twitter, Rachi mentioned that she’d been wanting to try the Mushroom Burger at The Cupping Room as part of the #MushroomMania2014 campaign for this year. I was happy to accompany Rachi to sample this burger which sounded fantastic.

The Cupping Room is a concept café designed by the team from Ona Coffee. I was interested to try the coffee as since being in Canberra, I hadn’t yet had a decent coffee made with Ona coffee beans, which was disappointing as I was hoping to fall in love with Ona coffee – Canberra’s largest specialty coffee roaster. Needless to say, I had high hopes for the coffee at The Cupping Room.

When I sat down, I was asked if I wanted to order a coffee. I quickly ordered my usual – a cappuccino ($3.50) – but wished I had looked at the menu beforehand. The Cupping Room have an array of coffee available, including filter varieties (including cold brew), milk-based espresso and black espresso coffees. Another element to my coffee order was which beans I wanted used within my milk-based espresso. There were two blends available, and I opted for the one that had ‘hints of chocolate’ but was introduced as slightly bitter. The Cupping Room serve their cappuccinos without powdered chocolate on top, which is the traditional way to serve cappuccinos. The coffee itself was at a great temperature, had a smooth texture and a fluffy consistency to the milk. The beans themselves were only very slightly bitter, but provided a strong coffee taste which is my personal preference. I was very impressed with this coffee.

Looking at the food menu, both Rachi and I could’ve easily ordered a number of appealing options on the breakfast menu (available all day), including the Okonamayaki (Japanese vegetable pancake with smoked salmon, asparagus, watercress, aioli and kecap manis) or the Huevos Bollo (two fried open range eggs, Newland’s bacon, guacamole and housemade Costa Rican BBQ sauce in a brioche roll). However, we decided to stick with the original plan and both ordered the Field Mushroom Burger ($19) – Field mushroom, coriander pesto, swiss cheese, fried open-range egg, rocket & aioli in a brioche roll, served with fries. The mushroom itself was perfectly cooked – it still held its texture and was juicy and flavoursome. I loved that the egg arrived slightly runny, which left Rachi and I eating this burger with a fork and knife. Overall, a lovely burger that definitely showcased field mushrooms.

If you’re not a coffee drinker, never fear as The Cupping Room also offer a selection of Adore teas, a 70% cacao hot chocolate, freshly squeezed juices and organic soft drinks.